Another lost F/M story

I am looking for one of my favorite stories, originally read on Spanko in 1999 back when it was TheSpankingInternet. I want to write at least two sequels to it, but need to see the original again. It may have been titled "the Return", The Revisit" or something like that. It was about a middle aged man that traveled to visit his cousin, who used to spank him when she babysat him as a boy. The spanking fun resumed, and he was also spanked by his cousin's adult daughter and her friend. He got to spank them when his cousin discovered what happened. This was a great story and deserved a few sequels. Any suggestions where it might be? Thanks.

Were you the author of the original story? If not, do you remember the name of the author? I don't remember ever reading this story, but will try to help you track it down.

Sorry, I am not the author and I don't recall who was. It was over 10 years ago, but a really great story. And for some reason, it was removed from the Spanko site and I never understood why. It is not in their archives. But I promise a few good sequels if it is found.

If you don't have the original I would suggest you write your own version of it and then you have a place for the sequels. Seems good to me.

CS

That's probably the best approach, because AFAIK it's unethical to use another author's characters without his/her express permission.

I've got to admit that it sounds like a fun story, I'd undoubtedly enjoy reading it and sequels to it as well... --C.K.

The legal position on this is straightforward, but tricky in practice. If a character is more or less a "stock character" with little in the way of distinctive features, then under US law, the character is not protected by copyright. If the character is distinctive, then the character is protected, and a new work using that character is a "derivative work" and requires permission just as much as a translation would, or a play (drama) version of a story, say. How distinctive is distinctive? that depends, and the only way to get a final decision is to be sued over it and have a court decide. Also, a parody of even a distinctive character is generally a 'fair use' and so is legal without permission, but what counts as a parody is also up to a court. Rules in other countries will be at least somewhat different.

As for the ethics of the matter, that is something about which opinions might differ. My view would be that if the original story is non-commercial, and especially if it is only a single story, not a long running series with a very well-established character, then I don't object to unauthorized sequels, if the author doesn't object and hasn't voiced such objections in advance. But creating a new, but similar character, is generally free of all such issues, and may be the better route to take. Some authors have explicitly consented to use of their characters, or of their settings, as Lurking Dragon did.

Problem here is that the author is not known so could not possibly give their permission, and no one knows if commercial or non-commercial, or whether there were a series following that is also not known to anyone.

I stick to my original suggestion, especially as enough is recalled to remember the basics of the story. Write a new original and add the sequels, no problems now or in the future.

Well, obviously it's a whole different ball game if the author has published prior consent to use his general settings and his minor characters--the Dragon allowed that much, but did request that his major characters (Melody, Ellie, Johnny Devine, etc.) be left untouched by other Rejuve Universe writers. He also 'suggested' that authors who wished to present an altered version of the rejuvenation/Penitatas system should employ either another location (planet) or a different time period for the setting of their RU stories, which seems quite reasonable to me.

Personally, I'd feel highly uncomfortable using another private writer's characters without his/her express permission, although IMHO writing internet fanfiction is a different situation... --C.K.

If you have an afternoon to kill, you can go through the archives of spanko.net, looking for the story. Having the year will help but you'll have to page through thousands of stories to find the one you want.

Goodgulf

Thanks for the suggestion. I already looked there and it is no longer in the archives. So I rewrote it, changing enough to make it original and submitted it. I'm waiting for my first story/ Stay tuned.